missing piece, aaron hotchner

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟔: 𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰

Ada's POV

"Coco please stop eating the cookie dough, I have had enough bad experiences with that for the both of us." I take the spoon out of her hand and put it in the sink with the rest of the dirty utensils. She pouts, her nose wrinkling up in the cutest way that it's hard not to laugh at her.

I put the tray of cookies into the oven at the lowest temperature, so hopefully, by the time we are looking at sorting dessert, they will be done, and as long as I don't forget about them, there will also be no burning.

"Look, I will need lots of help to decorate them once they're cooked, okay?" I try to appease her as she attempts to reach up to the kitchen sink- which is just marginally taller than her. "Why don't you bring some toys downstairs from your room so that you and Jack can play when they get here."

She nods excitedly, running unsteadily out of the room. I will never get tired of the toddler's frame of mind and how quickly it alters. I take a breath and look around the chaos of the kitchen, which I somehow need to clean up within the hour before Aaron and Jack arrive for dinner. It's been a little over a week since I've seen Aaron outside of work, the last few days have been so hectic at the office due to a load of management changes, so I can't wait.

"How are things going in here?" Emmy's voice startles me as she sneaks up, getting in my way as I try to grab a knife from the drawer.

I turn to her with a sigh, showing her the page of the recipe book I am on, "Well I'm trying to cook pasta for my boyfriend and his son, but I am a notoriously bad cook who can't even follow recipes. I mean what is 3 cups of onion? Onions don't come in cups; do you know what they come in?"

She shakes her head slowly.

"They come in onions," I shout exasperatedly, "Onions are onions."

Emmy lets out a deep breath, patting me on my tensed shoulder, "You are right about that one Ada."

I groan in frustration, looking around at the absolute shambles in which the kitchen is. I never knew I could use so many pots and bowls without haven actually cooked anything yet. The furthest I have gotten is taking out all of the ingredients and placing them on various worksurfaces, then looking at them all very sternly, hoping they would help me out and just make the dinner for me.

I'm just lucky that Coco was so persistent on baking something, at least if I make no progress dinner-wise, I can serve cookies, and they will have to smile and say thank you because that is the law.

When the doorbell rang, I span around to look at Emmy, who was trying not to laugh as I threw my apron off manically, rubbing my hands up and down my face, "They're early, the fucks sake why are people always early when nothing is going to plan."

"Language," Elijah called out from the living room.

"Oh, shut up-" I clenched my fists, leaning back on the counter, "Is it rude to just let them wait outside? It's not that cold right? They'll survive."